Corrupt companies should face a corporate ‘death penalty’, corporate probation or public shaming, a new report from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies proposes today. The report – Redefining Criminality – by Dr David Ellis and Professor David Whyte of the University of Liverpool, reveals that the public consider the crimes of the powerful to be as serious as, or worse than, everyday crimes such as handling stolen goods or joy riding.

In this summary piece based on her 2012 Eve Saville Lecture, Professor Pat Carlen argues that rehabilitation programmes have tended to be reserved for poorer lawbreakers. White collar and corporate lawbreakers, by contrast, tend not to be subject to the same level of prosecution or supervision.